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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Jeanne E. Hathaway, MD, MPH¹, Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD², Anita Raj, PhD³, Michele R. Decker, MPH¹, Emily Rothman, ScD⁴, Elizabeth A. Reed, MPH¹, and Jay G. Silverman, PhD⁵. (1) Division of Public Health Practice, Harvard School of Public Health, 1637 Tremont Street, Room 106, Boston, MA 02120, 617-432-4694, jhathawa@hsph.harvard.edu, (2) Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation, Massachusetts General Hospital, 50 Staniford St., 9th Floor, Boston, MA 02114, (3) Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St., T2W, Boston, MA 02118, (4) Youth Alcohol Prevention Center, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St., Boston, MA 02118, (5) Division of Public Health Practice/Department of Society, Human Development & Health, Harvard University, 677 Huntington Ave., Kresge 705, Boston, MA 02115

Background: An estimated 1 in 5 high school girls report experiencing dating violence. Girls in abusive relationships are at increased risk of unprotected sex, sexually transmitted infections (STI) and pregnancy. While male condom refusal, birth control sabotage and coerced sex are known to increase sexual risk for women and girls, underlying factors for these abusive behaviors have not been well defined.

Objective: We sought to identify contextual factors that may contribute to abusive male behaviors through interviews with male perpetrators of dating violence. This presentation focuses on male-reported individual and relationship-level factors.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 males aged 15-21 years who were self-identified or identified through intervention programs as perpetrators of dating violence. Interviews included questions on boys' dating and sexual relationships, sexual practices, and perpetration of dating violence. Interview transcripts were coded independently by two researchers and final codes were agreed upon by consensus.

Results: Analyses revealed multiple individual (e.g. focused on own needs, sexual entitlement/double-standards, lack of concern for contraception) and relationship factors (e.g. lack of commitment to relationships, multiple sex partners, assumptions about sex partners' STI status, condom non-use with main partner to demonstrate fidelity) as described by male perpetrators of dating violence that may contribute to risk of STIs and teen pregnancy.

Discussion: We will discuss the potential role of these individual and relationship-level factors in increasing sexual risk in abusive relationships and implications for prevention programming for boys and girls.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Describe characteristics of adolescent male perpetrators of dating violence that may increase female partners’ sexual risk.
• Describe characteristics of the relationships of adolescent male perpetrators of dating violence that may increase female partners’ sexual risk.
• Identify implications for primary and secondary prevention efforts for boys and girls to reduce sexual risks faced in abusive dating relationships.

Keywords: Sexual Risk Behavior, Adolescent Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Handout (.ppt format, 111.0 kb)

Handout (.ppt format, 1307.0 kb)